This paper describes research that is part of an ongoing project to design tools to assist in the integration of renewable energy into the electric grid. These tools will support control room dispatchers in real-time system operations of the electric power transmission system that serves much of the Western United States. Field observations comprise the first phase of this research in which 15 operators have been observed over various shifts and times of day for approximately 90 hours. Findings describing some of the cognitive and environmental challenges of managing the dynamically changing electric grid are presented.
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